"When in the height heaven was not named,
And the earth beneath did not yet bear a name,
And the primeval Apsu, who begat them,
And chaos, Tiamut, the mother of them both"

Tiamat, who's body formed the earth and sky and who's blood formed the waters, is viewed as our mother. She, along with apsu, created the first of the gods. The first gods were rockus and would not let Apsu rest. Tiamat and Apsu plotted to destroy that which they had created so they could rest again. Apsu was slain and Tiamat was enfuriated. In her wrathful state (Hubur) she waged war against her children. She created an army of 11 chaos beings to avenge Apsu's death. Marduk rose the victor from the fray and used Tiamat's body to create the sky and earth.

To us she is not only our great mother creator, but also a force of chaos. Those who were never born cannot die, so to us Tiamat and Apsu are not dead but sleeping and will rise again to bring the chaos cycle back around (this would be akin to the Satihan rune).